


Playing with Fire

by volleyowlets



Series: Avatar AU [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-22 22:35:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7456504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/volleyowlets/pseuds/volleyowlets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Yo, earth kid, how are ya?"<br/>"It's just a bit of fun. You don't even have to do much."<br/>"We've just got to get off this ship and then we're free."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Playing with Fire

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was beta'd by the lovely AO3 user yeol who I couldn't live without to be perfectly honest. She's the only reason I ever get anything done.  
> Please enjoy this fic and come yell at me on tumblr at volleyowlets about this AU!

Matsukawa Issei was renown for his earthbending abilities. He was no master, but in their quiet region of the Earth Kingdom, he was as good as the earthbenders got. He trusted his senses to keep him safe from harm, but he knew that if he got into a sticky situation, he didn't have much hope of getting out alive.

He was walking through the forest to the nearest cliffside to practice his bending, his dark hair sticking to his neck as sweat dripped down his spine, when he heard it. The snap of a stick being trodden on alerted him to the presence of a newcomer. His muscles stiffened as he got into a defensive stance and tried to feel where the other person was.

"Yo, earth kid, how are ya?" a voice asked. Matsukawa turned, coming face to face with a light haired boy, about the same age as himself.

"Who are you?" he asked, pushing a slab of earth between himself and the other boy. He couldn't afford to take chances with unfamiliar people; there was too much at stake with the Fire Nation still raging a war on the other nations of the world.

The boy smiled, his face seeming younger. "I'm Hanamaki," he said. "Hanamaki Takahiro."

Matsukawa eyed the other skeptically. "And what business do you have here?"

Hanamaki's eyes lit up at the question, as though all his hopes and dreams had come true. "I'm glad you asked, I just need you to help me for a minute. There's this group of Fire Nation soldiers in the valley just over there and I want to prank them."

Matsukawa dropped his arms and frowned at the other boy. Surely that was a suicide mission. No one in their right mind actively sought out the Fire Nation soldiers, especially not an earthbender. There was no way that that would end well.

"Do you have a death wish?" he said. Surely no one would want to risk getting burnt by the firebending army.

Hanamaki grinned at him. "Of course not! It's just a bit of fun. You don't even have to do much," he said. "All I need you to do is give me a cover so that I can get close enough to the soliders to prank them. You won't even get caught!"

Matsukawa scrunched his eyebrows together. Perhaps this kid did have a death wish, though if he wasn't going to get caught then it might be alright to help the kid.

"Okay," he said, lowering the earth that stood between them. "As long as I don't get caught."

The light haired boy's eyes lit up in excitement. "This is gonna be so good! Okay, okay, so I just need you to whip up a dust cover or something for me, then I'll do the rest of the work!" An arm came up to rest on Matsukawa's shoulder as they walked in the direction Hanamaki had said the Fire Nation soldiers were.

As it was, Hanamaki had been right. There was a camp of Fire Nation soldiers in the valley, and it didn't take them long to get into position.

"Alright, so here's the plan," Hanamaki began. "You give me a dust cover while I run in, and once I'm through, you need to run, just in case I'm not fast enough and they catch me. That way you're safe from them."

Matsukawa frowned. So this kid was willing to risk a lifetime in a dingy Fire Nation prison, or worse, death, for a dumb prank he wasn't sure he'd get away from safely? _What an idiot_ , he thought.

"Don't worry though," Hanamaki's voice broke into his thoughts. "I'll be fine. They've never caught me before!" With another grin, Hanamaki turned to face the troops again. "Ready?" he mumbled. "Go."

Without further questioning, Matsukawa got into position and created a dust storm for Hanamaki to run through. As soon as he saw heard the Fire Nation soldiers shouts, he was out of there. He ran from the valley, in the direction of his village. Once the village was in his line of sight, he slowed down to a walk again.

It was with a calm demeanour that he walked into the village and returned to his father's home; his mother had been taken away for trapping a Fire Nation soldier in a mine with her bending. He was sure she was alive, in a prison somewhere, but alive all the same. She'd had a spirit stronger than any other earthbender that he'd met in his life, but his father wasn't of the same mind.

"I'm back dad," Matsukawa said, his voice travelling loudly through the small house. He heard his father scramble from the bedroom.

"Good. You can help me finish up the dinner preparations."

Matsukawa nodded and followed the elder man into the kitchen where a leg of meat sat, ready to be prepared. He didn't even need to ask in order to know what was expected of him. He set to work on butchering the meat whilst his father worked on getting a suitable fire lit to cook the meat over. Their dinner would be good tonight, he thought, allowing a smile to slip onto his face as he thought about it.

* * *

Matsukawa was just finishing his dinner when he heard the shout from the street. The screams of two young children who didn't know how to protect themselves. Matsukawa's eyes widened as he ran to the window where he saw his worst nightmare; the Fire Nation soldiers from the valley were standing over a young boy, no more than seven years old, and yelling at him.

"You will tell me where the earthbender is you filthy child."

The boy was sobbing on the ground as the villagers all made their way into the street. It angered Matsukawa to see the soldiers treat his village in such a way. They didn't deserve this kind of pain.

"Please," Matsukawa saw the mother of the boy speak up. "We don't know what you're talking about."

The soldier looked away from the child and glared at the woman.

"Oh? Well then, would you care to explain why there was an earthbender in our camp earlier today? This is the only village for miles, that bender has to be here. Or are you trying to tell me that it was just a dust storm that messed up our camp site?" the soldier snarled in anger.

The villagers looked horrified that one of their own would do such a thing, and Matsukawa cursed his luck as he thought about what the soldiers would do if he didn't own up to being the earthbender.

There were some shouts from the village as they all tried to tell the soldiers that they'd never commit such a crime. It wasn't until the village went silent that Matsukawa saw what the Fire Nation troops were doing.

Their leaders hands were flaming as he got ready to blast the nearest group of villagers with fire. "You don't really expect me to believe that do you? Perhaps this will jog your memories."

Matsukawa flung the front door open and bent a block of earth in front of the villagers seconds before the fire was about to hit them. He watched as the Fire Nation soldiers turned to face the crowd, who stared at him as though they'd seen a ghost.

"Don't touch them," he heard himself tell the firebenders. "It's me you want to kill."

The murmurs that broke out amongst the villagers, some of disbelief, others of utter horror and disgust, were echoing in Matsukawa's ears as the leader of the soldiers stepped forward with a cruel smirk.

"That's what I want. Seize him," the soldier pointed, as two of the soldiers broke from their formation to march over to him. Each soldier gripped one of his upper arms strongly, the leader smirking as he spoke to the villagers. "This is what happens when you defile a Fire Nation's campsite. Be sure to remember this. You're never going to see this bender again."

Matsukawa glanced at his father guiltily as he was dragged from the village. His father looked heartbroken as his only family was removed from his village.

 _I'm so sorry dad_ , he thought.

* * *

It had been nearly a week since he'd been removed from his village and brought to a Fire Nation ship. He was currently being held in an onboard prisoners cell, in the efforts of his captors that his spirit would break and he'd resign himself to life as a war prisoner. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction.

He had wondered where the light haired boy from the forest had gotten to on more than one occasion since he'd been brought here. He hadn't seen head nor tail of the boy since that day, and surely the Fire Nation had caught the kid.

"Dinner," a voice said, as a meal was pushed beneath the door to his cell. It was an older Fire Nation woman, who had been nothing but kind to him when bringing him food for the past week. "Thank you," he mumbled, hands grabbing for the cup of water he was granted. He was only given one meal a day, but that didn't stop him from thanking her every time she brought him a meal. She did look at him strangely the first two days, but by the third night, she seemed resigned to being thanked for the food by him.

The old woman turned and left the cell, quickly as she'd come. She was probably off to enjoy her own, much grander meal if the laughs echoing from above were anything to go by.

He was finished with his meal soon enough, the hunger getting to him no matter how hard he tried to eat the meal slowly. The laughter above was becoming quieter as the minutes passed. He supposed the soldiers were probably making their ways to their rooms. He sure hoped they were - he wasn't ready for another one of the soldiers to come down and try break his spirits again.

It was much later when footsteps alerted him to someone walking down the hall. He crossed his fingers that whoever it was would walk past, or stop by to give him a second helping of dinner, though he knew neither option was likely.

He resigned himself as the footsteps came to a halt outside his cell and he found himself staring at the boots of a Fire Nation soldier. He refused to give them the satisfaction of looking them in the eye as they prepared to beat him.

It was a surprise when the sound of a familiar voice echoed off the walls around him.

"I can't believe you protected that village!"

Matsukawa's temper rose and he scrambled to his feet and reached a hand through the door of the cell, fisting a hand in the Fire Nation uniform's front. He was face to face with the boy from the forest, Hanamaki, and he was livid.

"I thought you said that no one would be caught," he snarled, his voice low enough that no one besides them would hear. "Why did those soldiers come to my village and terrorise the children? What choice did I have but to give myself up to them? And where did you get that uniform?"

The other boy grinned at him. "It's my uniform stupid," he said, and in his peripheral vision, Matsukawa saw the boy raise a hand from where it rested against his hip.

Matsukawa jerked back as a flame appeared on the boy's hand. Of course it had been a trick. Hanamaki must've been using him as a way to capture the last of the earthbenders in his village. _Stupid_ , he thought, cursing his own trusting heart.

"You lied to me. Stay away from me," he said, lips curling in anger as he flattened himself against the back of the cell.

Hanamaki frowned at him, and Matsukawa got a glimpse of something resembling hurt in the other boys eyes before it left and he pulled out a set of keys from his belt. "I'm here to get you out you idiot. Are you going to stay angry in there or are you at least going to let me free you?"

Matsukawa glared at him as the key slid into the lock and the door to his cell was swung open. He made no move to get up and follow Hanamaki though. It wasn't until the other boy walked in and grabbed his upper arm that he allowed himself to move, if only to shrug the fire bender off and walk out of the cell. He heard Hanamaki sigh but didn't turn to look at the other again.

"Okay, fine. Let's just get out of here then, where am I going?" Matsukawa asked, looking both directions down an empty corridor, but not knowing exactly where he was headed.

"Right." Hanamaki pushed him out into the open without warning, causing him to stumble a couple of steps and to shoot a glare at the other. Hanamaki only shrugged with a grin. "Everyone's asleep by now so we shouldn't be caught. We've just got to get off this ship and then we're free."

It sounded easy enough. He allowed Hanamaki to direct him, and soon he was standing on the upper deck, glued in place as a pair of Fire Nation soldiers rounded the corner to see him. He felt Hanamaki grab his sleeve and pull him into the shadows on the opposite side of the ship not a moment too soon.

"Shit," Hanamaki groaned. "They were supposed to stop patrolling an hour ago."

Matsukawa glanced at Hanamaki. "You didn't check before you got me out? Are you stupid?"

"Well, maybe that would've been the logical thing to do, but I never claimed to be good at planning," Hanamaki whispered back. Matsukawa rolled his eyes and scanned the deck for something to help them get off the ship. He was losing hope when he saw the ladder and pulled at Hanamaki's arm to get his attention.

"The ladder," he pointed. Hanamaki seemed to understand what he was saying as he glanced at the disappearing forms of his fellow soldiers and darted across the deck toward the rope ladder that lead to their success in getting off the ship.

The pair were halfway down the side of the ship when shouts above them alerted them to having been caught. Without thought Matsukawa scrambled down the rope faster. The sound of soldiers boots hitting the deck above them made it to their ears and Hanamaki was cursing under his breath as they descended.

"Get ready, we're going down!" Hanamaki yelled, moments before fire shot from his fingers, slicing through the rope. They fell the distance down the water below, both struggling for air as they fought to the surface.

Matsukawa gulped a breath of air into his lungs before diving beneath the water and making for the sandy beach. He could hear the ships ramp lowering to the ground as his feet hit the sandy surface and saw Hanamaki, looking slightly scared as he turned back to him on the beach. As his feet hit dry sand, Matsukawa gripped the firebender's arm and ran for the nearest patch of buildings.

Rounding the corner next to a deserted shop front, Matsukawa stopped running, pulling Hanamaki to a stop beside him. "What are you doing?" the light haired man asked, terror showing in the quiver of his voice. "We're going to be killed!"

"Calm down," Matsukawa said. "Just trust me." He was quick in his movements, moving the earth to make a hole, just big enough for two people to stand in comfortably, and gestured to Hanamaki to get in.

"Are you crazy?" Hanamaki screeched, climbing into the hole even as he spoke. Matsukawa followed him in, closing the top of the hole just in time to hear metal boots run over the top of them.

"Maybe I am, but whose idea was it to get me out?" Matsukawa could feel heavy breathing on the side of his neck, and the muffled sound of a Fire Nation solider yelling orders. They were going to be here a long time.

"Mine," came Hanamaki's muffled voice.

"Exactly. Now help me out here," he said, getting ready to bend the earth again. They needed to leave this area, otherwise they were never gong to get anywhere. "Move back a little."

Hanamaki did as he was asked. He allowed Matsukawa to bend the earth above them away again, and as soon as they'd made it out of the hole, they made a dash for the bush covered land at the end of the small street. It was all the hope they had if they didn't want to be stuck in a hole for the whole night, and they needed to get away from here as fast as they possibly could.

They weren't spotted by any Fire Nation soldiers as they made their getaway, and as soon as they were far enough from the town they'd stumbled into, they collapsed against each other. Their breathing was hard as they fought to catch their breaths in the dark of the night.

It was Hanamaki who broke the silence after they'd regained their breaths. "So, I think we might have gotten off on the wrong foot. My name's Hanamaki Takahiro, and I'm a firebender."

Matsukawa felt a smile tug at his lips as he took the hand that hand been offered to him. "Matsukawa Issei. Earthbender."


End file.
